Wednesday, 30 April 2008

Sunday, 3 February 2008

From Kat:"A friendly mockingbird sat on a wire and sang a sweet song that went like this...

~ News ~ / ~ Late ~ / ~ Tuesday ~ / ~ Night ~

Then he flew away and we went back to drinking our coffee and chatting about Pearl Jam."Mocking Birds are the State bird of Tennessee, and Bonnaroo is held in coffee county.From Jeff:"We're gonna get together here in a couple of weeks and try and write some stuff."

Wednesday, 30 January 2008

Matt Cameron and other artists recently assembled at the Columbia City Theater in Seattle to join in helping record and document the recording of a song entitled "Fired Up, Ready To Go" written to support the Barack Obama 2008 Presidential Campaign.

Singer/songwriter Eddie Vedder appears for the first time as a solo artist in a music video for the Critics Choice, Golden Globe and Grammy-nominated song "Guaranteed" from the Sean Penn-directed motion picture Into the Wild.

The video, directed by critically-acclaimed writer/director Marc Rocco (Murder in the First and Where the Day Takes You) premieres January 7th at 6:00 a.m. EST on VH1 and VH1.com.

Video repeats will air throughout the morning hours and online leading up to VH1's live telecast of the 13th Annual Critics Choice Awards at 9:00 p.m. EST.

Feature film writer/director Marc Rocco conceived, directed and produced the video for "Guaranteed" in just a few days - and shot the project entirely on 35 mm film in three hours - as a way for the typically video-shy Vedder to pay tribute to Sean Penn's film and Chris McCandless's journey. The video uses a series of floating, illuminated images from Into the Wild to capture Vedder's intimate and poetic performance, weaving striking silhouettes of Vedder with translit still frames from the film in a powerful and simple way.

"To me, Eddie is the most compelling musical artist of our generation," explains Rocco. "His songwriting pounds you on a visceral level and his storytelling always stands apart in the same way a great film does - each time you hear his words, they engender a different experience in your heart, soul and mind."

"It has been a privilege and honor to collaborate with Eddie in a medium that he so rarely visits. I hope that I've portrayed visually the song 'Guaranteed' in a way that leaves the viewer as emotionally moved as I was the first time I heard Eddie's music for Into the Wild."

Meanwhile...

Epidemic Music & American Music Presents FLOOD WATCH! A Benefit for the Flood Victims in Central WA at The Showbox Market, 1426 1st Ave Seattle WA 98101, on January 26th. The performance will feature Harrybu McCage (feat: Matt Cameron from Pearl Jam & Soundgarden), Iris I, Surface Tension, and Windowpane.

Tuesday, 18 December 2007

Seattle's renowned music venue the Crocodile Café has suddenly closed its doors after 17 years.

The intimate downtown club, which played a big role in the early 1990s grunge scene and has hosted shows from the likes of Beck, REM, Yoko Ono and Sleater-Kinney, was reportedly facing financial troubles that forced the owner to close its doors. It most notably hosted a gig in 1992 featuring Nirvana and Mudhoney for a $3 ticket price.

According to the Seattle Post-Intellligencer, owner Stephanie Dorgan unexpectedly told club employees this past weekend that there was no need for them to return to work because she was shutting the club down.

"We all knew the club has problems with money, but we certainly didn't think it would be closing right now," said club booker Eli Anderson. "I was booking new shows on Saturday, so I was freaking out when I received Stephanie's voice mail."

PJ played a secret show there late in 1998, after the end of their Yield tour, in a short opening set packed with rarities.

"A few friends of Kim Warnick have put together this online auction to help raise money for the medically challenged rockstar. Kim's rock and roll resume includes playing in the legendary Fastbacks as well as Visqueen.

Eddie Vedder, of Pearl Jam was kind enough to donate one of his guitars to auction off for Kim.

Included in the guitar case is a handwritten two page letter from Eddie that explains the history of the guitar as well as his memories of touring with Kim.Also in this package are two signed Pearl Jam posters and an original black & white print of Eddie and Kim from their '98 tour, signed by photographer Charles Peterson.

Bid now to benefit Kim Warnick and take home a piece of Rock history today.Bid on this ultimate Pearl Jam package at charitybuzz.com."

Sunday, 16 December 2007

While we wait for news to trickle through as to the contents of this year's X-mas vinyl, it's good to know it will be a happy Christmas in the Vedder household, as Eddie has picked up two Golden Globe nominations:

Into The Wild for Best Original ScoreGuaranteed for Best Original Song

Anyway, while we all wait around for something PJ related to happen, it's time to open Santa's Sack (this may be familiar to those of you that visited The Army Reserve) and dig deep for some festive cheer!

This comes in the form of a new soundboard bootleg from PJ's performance at this year's Hurricane Festival, the last of 4 shows the band played in Germany this summer. Being a festival, it has a nice sprinkling of hits (Corduroy, Betterman, Even Flow), as well as a few fan favourites (Why Go?, Faithfull), giving a nicely rounded show, with the band very much on form (by their own confession, they had some shitty festival gigs this summer).

Saturday, 15 December 2007

Every year (bar one) since the creation of the Ten Club, Pearl Jam has released a Christmas single on vinyl to members of its fanclub.

Although it is often Easter before these beauties end up in our hands, it's the thought that counts, and there are 16 years worth of thoughts in this collection. Comprising everything from original Christmas songs, live performances, covers, duets, Jeff Ament on lead vocals, and some stuff thats just plain random, this collection is made available here in mp3 and FLAC formats with full artwork to make it an essential addition to any fan's collection, or the perfect gift to the Jammer close to your heart...

Tuesday, 11 December 2007

This summer, musician Emmanuel "Vinny" Miranda had an angry conversation with a girl that ended with him hanging up the phone. "I was like, 'Well, forget this,'" says Miranda, a 10th-grader at Todd Beamer High School. Pissed, he grabbed a pencil and wrote some lyrics about how the girl was "all alone/With nobody in your life to call your own."

That's where the story would've ended for most jilted teenagers. But most jilted teenagers aren't "Juanny Cash, the 15-Year-Old Johnny Cash Prodigy," as Miranda is billed at his weekly gig at downtown's Can Can nightclub. As it turns out, he recently had a recording session with John Carter Cash, son of Johnny. His lyrics are now immortalized on a yet-to-be released CD with Dave Roe, bass-slapper for the Tennessee Three, and Jamie Hartford, who played electric guitar for the 2005 Cash biopic, Walk the Line.

"With that voice, you think, 'Well that's just the greatest thing I've ever heard,'" says Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam. In September, Gossard pulled Miranda into his studio for an "ongoing project" that has Seattle musicians reinterpreting the songs of Hank Williams Sr. "He has this incredible gift, this huge sound. And then he's got a real fire in his eye, and he gives it up."

An unlikely pairing if ever there was one, but according to this source, Mr. Vedder is to be one of a host of celebs to contribute to a documentary miniseries based on historian-author Howard Zinn's 1980 book "A People's History of the United States". Eddie will split Music duties for the film with R&B star John Legend.

PJ fans may remember Zinn's name as he came onstage to give a speech at the two 2004 shows in Boston, as well as numerous dedications of the song Down to him; The line "You can't be neutral, on a moving train" originates from one of his books.

To be titled "The People Speak", the project will feature music and readings based on America's struggles with war, class, race and the rights of women. It has yet to be picked up by a network.

Sunday, 9 December 2007

A couple of site updates, a new page, called Let My Love Open The Door, has all the latest on causes that PJ support, most of which is also available on the official site, but it can't hurt to spread the word.

Also, a new featured artist, Niko Taylor. You can now find all featured artists chronicled on your right hand side for easy access.

Also, a newsletter informing people of release dates for next year includes a new Boxset from Sony Legacy, called the Worldwide Singles Box. While the rest of us wonder what this could be, Jamilyman from the Message Pit was able to bring us this, from deep within 10C HQ...

Kat: Dammit Sea, operation singles has been leaked!

Sea: You mean....

Kat: YES! Those stalke... I mean fanatics were able to find some obscure reference to the new Singles project!

Sea: We knew this day would come. We just didn't expect it this early!

Santos: I told you guys that throwing a Green Hoodie at the men would not be enough to throw them off the trail!

Kat: You are right. I expected them to be doing their holiday shopping and not scouring the net the way only they are capable of. Hmmm... Do you think we should?!?

Santos: Do we have any other choice?

Sea: No! Now the only question is, do we put more towels up... or do we go with the Koozie???

Kat: Let's not lose ourselves here, gang. I am not ready to play the Koozie Trump Card just yet. Santos, you put up another 50 towels, I will send out a Little Birdie announcement, and Sea, you run some interference with the Deep contest.

Sea: That's perfect! That should buy us a couple more days to put together something about the aforementioned Operation Singles.

Saturday, 8 December 2007

The second featured artist in our New Music Series is original NYC Man Niko Taylor. As a solo musician Niko's wide-reaching tastes have given him a large musical canvas with which to work, as I found out when interviewing him late last month.

A conversation with Niko Taylor.

Why don’t you start by introducing yourself...Sure. Well, I'm 26 years old and I live in Brooklyn, New York. I work as a freelancer copyeditor and proofer, mainly for university presses.

Music for me is a hobby, though one that I'm very serious about. Right now, it's more about just doing something creative and being true to it - not really about any dreams of worldwide success or anything like that.

I guess working freelance gives you a bit more freedom than most to pursue your music then..Yes, definitely. I still work a lot of hours, but I can structure my day so that I have plenty of time to write. For example, I'll work for, say, two hours, and then have an hour break.

And since I work from home, my guitar and piano are right there. It's a really good situation for following my muse.

And it's not just for writing - I can also work on recordings this way as well -- over the course of a day, I might lay down a track or two. It's really nice.

You mentioned the guitar and piano, are they the main songwriting tools you turn to when an idea pops into your head?You know, it's funny - I'm a guitar player. That's what I've played for years, that's what I took lessons on. But recently my wife and I got a really nice electric piano - one of those that really feels like a piano. And having that around, that's turned into my main writing tool. My skills are pretty basic, but it really helps me to think about my songs in a different context.

I like the fact that I don't know what I'm doing exactly. I think that way I avoid common chords and changes, which I know so well on the guitar - They may very well be standard on the piano, too, but since I don't know that instrument as well, it sounds very fresh to me.

Listening to your recordings, it's certainly apparent you are capable of covering a broad spectrum of musical styles. Being open to learning new instruments can only bring more colours to the palate...Well, I could see that. I suppose no two songs do sound the same. But really, I think that's a result of how I write.

I don't sit down and say, “I should write a song about” ... well, whatever. How I feel, what I see, whatever.

What will happen is I'll be sitting listening to music, and something in a song strikes me - It's instantaneous, sometimes only a few seconds of a song.

So, I go over to the piano and try to write it myself. And the variety of things I listen to is what I think causes the variety in my sound.

Take the song 'Goodbye,' for instance, that was my version of a 50's girl group song - I heard 'Walking in the Sand' by The Shangri-La's and said, "Oh, I gotta write my own version of that!"

So you set out to (re)create a certain sound when writing, as opposed to sitting down and saying ‘I want to write a power ballad in the style of...’Yes, it's all about sound - and for me, the lyrics follow from that. I'll have some nonsense words as I'm trying to recreate a certain sound, and as I work it out, those will slowly morph into a fully formed idea.

But it's not always about genre, sometimes it's just about a certain rhythm. Like, the song 'Together Alone' was written after hearing ‘Cut My Hair’, a Who song on Quadrophenia that had a great, marching, pulsing guitar rhythm - just the cadence of it, that's what I was after, not necessarily "70's concert album rock," you know?

So, going though my own imagination, my own style, my background, these varied influences come out sounding nothing like the originals - Especially when they transfer instruments as well - Because they usually start on the piano but wind up on the guitar!

It always amazes me where they start out from and where they end.

The process of making music is one which has always amazed me, even as you say, how one song can change from its inception to the finished product.Totally - I am so fascinated by it. That's why I love listening to bootlegs of artists I love - Often times you can hear how a song changes through various versions - Or how images or lines start in one song and wind up in another (Bruce Springsteen does that one a lot!)

Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. I am exactly the same when it comes to bootlegs, just hearing one little bit of improv makes a song seem so much better. For example, I listened to an old PJ bootleg from 95 last night and Even Flow came on with a different intro and I was in heaven for the next five minutes!You know, a nice example re: Pearl Jam is the transformation of Light Years - Have you heard the earlier version of it? What's it called?

Puzzles and Games...Yes - isn't that fascinating? To hear what bits of the song worked and what didn't?God, I love comparing and contrasting like that - It gives you a chance to get inside the artist's head, to hear what they thought would be good, what they tried, what they ditched, what they kept. So fascinating.

And I don't think the two versions have too many note for note similarities, there are parts of the chorus that are more upbeat, and I think they have rewritten the verses to match the beat that the chorus carries...I want to say the verses on the final version have a sort of plodding pace, but that’s the wrong word...I think that's accurate. But I think you're right - maybe after they finished Puzzles and Games, they heard the chorus again, and said, you know, that's what we want this song to be - But they couldn't have gotten there without writing the whole damn first version of the song!

So, who has inspired you to pick up the guitar?Well, I was inspired to pick up the guitar by Guns N Roses, actually.

They were your first musical love?I was really into them when I was like 8 or 9 years old, and that's what inspired me to ask my Mom for a guitar and guitar lessons.

I remember listening to Appetite for Destruction so many times that I wore out the cassette tape - you know, like it literally wouldn't play anymore!

I always think its funny when people say that they were really into music at such a young age, I never really got into music of any sort until my teens hit, I think Nimrod by Green Day was my 'Appetite for Destruction'Yeah, I don't know, I was really struck by hard rock - Guns N Roses, and Bon Jovi, but it was Pearl Jam (and Nirvana) that got me into songwriting and playing in a band, and that didn't happen until high school, ninth grade, 1995 or so.

Listening to your music, your tastes have obviously widened considerably since then...Yes, they really have. I mean, I was in a very PJ-influenced band in high school, but I've broadened my scope since then.

But you know what's funny? Pearl Jam was in many ways responsible for that. I think they were, and still are, a great band to get obsessed with as a growing musician, because they are really into rock history.

So through them, I learned about the Who and Neil Young. And Neil Young I think was a huge influence for me, especially in where my music has gone since then.

I understand, the same thing happened to me. By listening to Green Day, I was turned onto other 'mainstream' bands and then I hit on Red Hot Chili Peppers, and kinda became obsessed with the melodic nature of their playing, and looked for traits like that in other bands. Eventually I was turned on to a bunch of bands that influenced them, like Thelonious Monk, which just opened up new worlds...Its like a domino effect...I know. It's similar to what we were talking about with songwriting. It's amazing where something stars and where it ends.

Neil Young is perhaps one of the greatest influences you could wish to have, because you could listen to his style of guitar playing and his voice, which is in the upper registers and think that he would be limited by that, but instead he has a 30-40 year career that covers wide and vastly differing scopes of the musical landscape.Well, in some ways, he and I were a good match because my voice is in the upper register also. I think he's keyed into something about songwriting - Something very basic, very simple. And listening to a ton of Neil Young I think makes you more creative, not less creative.

Which I think is different from, say, Paul McCartney. Personally, I don't think a lot of people hear Paul McCartney and say, Hey, I could do that - Because so few of us could!

But with Neil Young, I think he does something very simple, very basic, and does it very well, that it liberates you - Or, well, liberates me.

Do you feel creatively inhibited by McCartney?Yes, I do - And even some John Lennon, though he's probably my other biggest influence.

But the parts of him that are more like Neil Young - the simple, rough, primal John Lennon - White Album onward, and then especially the early solo stuff like Plastic Ono Band.

But sometimes he's too much like me - like I hear a song like 'Look at Me' on Plastic Ono Band, or 'Crippled Inside' on Imagine, and I think “Jesus Christ, this is like my dream song to write - Yet he wrote it already!”

But that's different from McCartney, where he's doing things I would never think to do - Or he's doing things I don't even understand, because he's on such a high and complicated level.

While I agree that musicians like McCartney have abilities few others possess, I am very much of the opinion that it is harder to write a simple, accessible pop song than hide behind walls of complexity...Yes, I agree - I totally agree - Simplicity is harder than complexity!

That's not to say I can't or don't appreciate bands or artists whose sound is based in complex song structures.I guess what I'm saying is that I think people like Neil Young and John Lennon wore the process on their sleeve, whereas McCartney is so good at it that it seems effortless - he hides all the hard work behind it, or the emotional rawness that goes into it.

I think the man is a genius - He is the best at making the simple, perfect pop song - I guess I just personally don't learn a lot from him - I mean, learn about the craft of songwriting, for myself, just the style, I guess.

Growing up, were you part of a musical family, so to speak?No, not at all. Nobody in my family is a musician. It's just something that I found on my own.

I only ask because I know your wife (Jillian Lubow) collaborates on some of these recordings with you.Yes! There's a song, Say Yes, which I wrote, but she did all the vocals. My wife, by the way, is an amazing singer songwriter!

But we're so different - Like, my creative process I described to you, it's so different from hers. She sits down and says, I want to write a song about this, and then she just works away at it. She's less scattershot, less random than I am.

But I learn a lot from her - I love her words. They're poetic, smart, sassy, witty, funny, and they tell a story.

A lot of times, I think of the words as an afterthought, so a lot of times they come out like R.E.M. lyrics (another huge influence of mine) - You know, just random poetic phrases, but nothing super coherent... Just evocative.

But some of the stuff I'm working on now is trying to have some more lyrical clarity. The next song I'm gonna record was inspired by Springsteen's Nebraska album - I tried to sit down and really write about something.

I wanted to ask early on, are you living in New York or San Francisco now, as I gathered you were living in San Fran quite recently...That's right - I'm back in NY, which is my permanent home. Jill and I went out to SF on a temporary basis - sublet our place in BK and then got a sublet in San Fran, just to test it out - but we're back now.

Being able to do that is one of the perks of being a freelancer.

But New York is definitely my home, geographically, spiritually, musically, everything.

I ask because both cities are steeped in musical history, but very different musical histories...I think of NYC and the punk rock of the Ramones and Velvet Underground, and the downtown scene, as well as the inner city rap scene, whereas I associate San Francisco more with the hippy movement of the 60s.Actually, in college, I did my honours English thesis on the Velvet Underground and Andy Warhol and the whole 1960s NY downtown scene. If you go to http://npt203.googlepages.com, you can find a version of the paper, which was published at PopMatters.

Musically, I'm definitely more of a NY guy than an SF guy - Mamas and Papas, Grateful dead, etc.? Eh, they're OK... But I got really into the downtown punk thing - Velvets, Talking Heads, Dylan, Blondie, the whole thing... That to me is just the epitome of cool - that hard edged, gritty, tough attitude.

And if I'm ever in a full band again (which is very possible - it's in my plans), I would love to have that kind of sound - You know, the kind of band that could just rip into a good Velvets or Stooges cover?

Just a punk rock power trio, rough around the edges?Well - Oh, I don't know! Because then I'd also want a country western tinged rockability outfit - Kind of like Bob Dylan's recent bands. Oh, I just want to go in a million different directions, which, in a way, brings us back to where we started - The variety in my music.

I'm all over the place, but I think that's a virtue - I mean, I don't know, but it's the only way I can be.

Friday, 7 December 2007

"Into The Wild" is the story of a young man who breaks away from his family and sets off to explore uncharted territory.

The story of its soundtrack is much the same. At 42, Eddie Vedder is not quite young (although, in a yellow leather jacket and band T-shirt, he looks it) and the family he (temporarily) left behind is Pearl Jam, the band he has fronted for the last 17 years.But like Chris McCandless, memorably incarnated in the film by an emaciated Emile Hirsch, Vedder chose to walk a solitary road, playing every instrument on all but one of the soundtrack's 11 songs.

Vedder didn't set out to make the album on his own, but once he started to work on the songs, they came out in a rush, and calling in other musicians would have slowed things down. "I kept thinking at some point Matt Cameron would come down and play drums on it," Vedder says, referring to Pearl Jam's drummer. "But we just kept everything moving forward. The quicker we went, there got to be a real energy to it."

From the beginning, Vedder connected with McCandless' story on a deeply personal level. Their lives are marked by a handful of striking similarities, including the fact that each had the way he understood his own family radically altered in his late teens. McCandless discovered that his father was a bigamist with a secret family on the opposite coast. Vedder was informed that the man he'd been raised to believe was his father was actually his stepfather, and that his real father had died years before.

Vedder does not discuss the subject at length but the parallel clearly drew him in. "I had things that I hated to go through as a young adult that just happened to serve me well for this job." It's not hard to hear an echo of the righteous anger in Pearl Jam's songs when Vedder describes the disillusionment that sent McCandless on his journey. "The people that he trusted, and the world that he trusted, he felt betrayed by," Vedder says. "He felt like there were things in the world that were wrong, and he probably felt that at home too."

He also relates to the paternalistic bond between McCandless and Hal Holbrook's widowed veteran, a mirror of his own friendship with the late Johnny Ramone. Working on "Into the Wild" brought Vedder back to his earliest influences. The album's layered sound was inspired by Pete Townshend's demos for the Who's "Who's Next," which demonstrated that one man with a multitrack tape recorder could make as much noise as a full band. "That was a mind-blower for me," he recalls. "To hear the impetus and the core of that stuff and realize that one person could orchestrate his own music like that, that was a great case to study, plus those were my favorite songs in the world."

Vedder also took a cue from watching Neil Young turn an initial inspiration into a full-fledged song in a matter of minutes. "I've put it into practice on a song here and there, just grabbing something and turning it into something immediately," he says. "Getting a spark, grabbing it, one hour later -- song. But never on a body of songs like this one." Vedder is reluctant, at first, to venture a guess as to why the songs came so quickly. He launches into an explanation several times, then retreats and starts over, as if seeking just the right approach. "I haven't said this yet, for the reason that it might be taken the wrong way," Vedder says. "But I shouldn't be shy. I should be proud of it. And it's not being proud of myself. It's being proud of whatever happened."

What happened, Vedder says, is that he started to feel more like the songs' conduit than their author. "It felt like other things were at work," he says. "Things came through, musically and lyrically, that I didn't have to do too much work with. It felt more like grabbing little sparks around my head and putting them on the fire."

Although inspiration came quickly, Vedder took his time arranging the songs, changing tempos and adding instrumental verses to fit them into Penn's nearly completed movie. "I didn't want to say, 'It's a minute and a half scene, but here's a five-minute song -- take what you want,' " he says. "I wanted to make it as easy as possible, give him a piece of music that he could just play where he wanted it to start and end where he wanted it to stop. I just wanted him to be able to get it and play with his kids."

The movie already had music in it when Penn sent it to Vedder with a request to add one or two songs to the mix. Despite his confidence in his initial submissions, Vedder was prepared for rejection. "I liked what we had done, but I was ready to be told, 'Thanks, and hope this doesn't jeopardize our friendship, but I'm going to stick with the other stuff.' "

Instead, after leaving the studio late one night, Vedder was awakened early the next morning. "I blearily woke up to a phone call from Sean saying he had already put two pieces in the movie, and maybe we could do five or six more and think about the theory that the singer could be the interior voice of the character," he says. He began to think of the album as a way to retell the movie's story in miniature, like the songs for "Harold and Maude," another touchstone for the teenage Vedder. When he found out that movie had no soundtrack album, Vedder bought the necessary Cat Stevens records and assembled his own.

Although the two have been friends for years, Vedder still speaks of Penn with a degree of awe. Having seen Penn regale guests with a late-night recitation from a Phil Ochs song, Vedder strove to be worthy of such a moment. "He makes songs sound like poetry," he says. "When I was writing, I was thinking, 'This has to be good enough for him to recite to one of his friends at 4 in the morning.' "

The release of "Into the Wild" has stirred up some of the resentments that greeted the publication of Jon Krakauer's book, from those who see McCandless as a spoiled rich kid whose headstrong cockiness amounted to a death wish.But Vedder has no doubt that McCandless intended to survive his Alaskan adventure, drawing a comparison with his own preferred way to get back to nature. "I don't think a guy goes out to surf big surf and thinks that he's not going to come back in," he says. "I think McCandless was out to catch big waves, and he wanted to challenge himself. He was going to, as all of us hopefully will do in our lives at some point, take it to the edge, to find out where the edge is, and find some truth in it all. And then you come back, not just to share your knowledge, but to become a different person, and that's how you contribute to society. These aren't just romantic journeys. They could be considered integral to becoming a more fully realized human."

Vedder's solo voyage has taken him down new paths. He has been mulling over the idea of a string of solo dates, the better to experiment with ideas that might not go over as well in the stadiums Pearl Jam usually plays. "At my age, I want to keep getting better," he says. "I don't want to say this is it. We'll still keep playing, but this is the end of our growth. So this would be a way to grow a couple new branches or something."

This is the name I have affectionately given my laptop, when after 3 years of (not quite) loyal service, it could no longer take the strain of housing a monsterous PJ bootleg collection, and died, hence the lack of updates for the last week or so.

It also happens to be the name of a Neil Young song he performed with PJ way back in 1994 at the Bridge School Benefit concerts, notable for being the first shows Jasck Irons played with the band. Check It Out:

Anyway, now I'm back, so lets go over the all the important (and the not so important) news in PJ world from the last 7 days.

Eddie's song Guaranteed has been nominated for a Grammy. It is in Category 84, Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media, where he shall commence battle with Chris Cornell, who was nominated for You Know My Name for the illustrious prize once dubbed by Mr. Vedder as being 'completely worthless'.

Keep your eyes peeled for the Guaranteed music video to premiere soon as well.

Meanwhile, Stone has been using his recent downtime to plot another Brad show, as part of a Seattle Benefit for presidential candidate Barack Obama. Get tickets here.

In the new Rolling Stone, Jeff tells us how "Pearl Jam's goal every night is "Let's try to be Zep in ' 73, MSG . " They changed it up with every record. When we made Ten, we wanted to be as diverse as possible so we could go any direction we wanted after that, the way they did."

Sticking with the famous magazine, they made up for last weeks lack of PJ inclusion in their top 25 live albums of all time by naming Mother Love Bone'sChloe Dancer/Crown Of Thorns as one of the top 50 songs of all time over 7 minutes long. There were no rankings given.

Also, an upcoming episode of Iconoclasts, which will feature Sean Penn, includes Ed's music from Into THe Wild. Check it out on the Sundance Channel, December 10th.

Finally, in what can barely be passed off as newsworthy, College football player Colt McCoy, 21, quarterback for UT, named Yellow Ledbetter as one of the songs that gets him pumped up during a workout. How this would get you pumped up I've no idea, but he's probably bigger and stronger than me, so I won't argue.

Wednesday, 28 November 2007

Matt Cameron, PJ drummer extrodinaire, celebrated his birthday yesterday by performing at a Seattle music school in front of about 40 people, debuting his newest side project, the Macage Harybu Trio. The group is completed by bassist Geoff Harper and keyboardist Ryan Burns.

After a short opening set by a 7 yr old and his teacher, featuring lyrics about snot and ice cream (as all great songs do), the band took to the stage to play a number of Thelonious Monk covers, as well as a handful of original jazz tunes including set-closer Highway Star. One song, complete with lyrics saw Matt handle lead vocals.

Tuesday, 27 November 2007

As the 20th Anniversary of the release of Temple Of The Dog creeps ever closer with each passing year, many of us thought that there was little chance we would get to experience the record live.

After all, the band played only a handful of shows in 1990, and other than Chris Cornell turning up during a Pearl Jam set at the tail end of Lollapalooza '92, and again at a Santa Barbara benefit in '03, the closest we have gotten have been some questionable PJ performances of Hunger Strike with Corin from Sleater-Kinney and Andrew Stockdale from Wolfmother. Similarly, back in 2005 Audioslave covered the song with drummer Brad Wilk taking over vocal duties from EV.

But Chris Cornell has changed all that. Since he kicked off a World Tour in support of his new solo album Carry On earlier this year, Temple songs have been working their way into heavy rotation in the CC setlist. Ranging from solo acoustic versions of Call Me A Dog to epic full band versions of Say Hello To Heaven, these songs have never sounded better.

And thanks to the joys of Youtube, you can see for yourself. Now all we need is the announcement of the long overdue CC/PJ tour...

TwoFeetThick Notes: This show opens with a particularly sweet version of 'Long Road.' During 'Not for You,' Ed chats a bit. "If you catch me missing a lyric ... if you catch me making a mistake. It's just I got a lot on my mind. Like I was just thinking a minute ago, 'I hope these people know that this song isn't about them.' I just hate to be misunderstood." 'Red Mosquito' is introduced as 'Song X's' baby brother. Ed makes a joke: "It looks like some of you are on grass ..." (referring to the people on the lawn). 'Habit' is modified to, "Speaking as someone standing in complete darkness." After the band plays the intro to 'Immortality,' Ed takes a drink, the crowd goes wild, the band stops and goes on to 'Better Man,' entirely scrapping 'Immortality.' Quelling the "Ed-die" chants later, he says, "Enough of that. If you could just see what you look like from here. It's just crazy ... it's crazy. Just crazy. You guys are really nice ..." then launches into 'Blood.' The 'Daughter' tag includes a snippet of Embrace's 'No More Pain,' ("Your emotions are nothing but politics, so get control"). Before 'Mankind,' Stone says "Do you want to hear me sing one?" (The crowd goes nuts.) He continues (laughing), "Awww, no you don't!" Returning for a second encore, Stone asks if it rained outside, while Ed references people holding up signs for "super rare songs." The crowd gets a very nice surprise ... a super version of 'Wash.' Excellent show!

Thursday, 22 November 2007

I just celebrated Thanksgiving for the first time here in the UK, and as a result I'm now feeling very festive/drunk, and in the mood to give give give!

I was trying real hard to think of something to give y'all, all the while preparing myself for a trip to see a Led Zeppelin cover band tomorrow night, using the new Mothership release to give myself a quick refresher course, when as if by magic, a lightbulb flashed in my head...

So I present to you, as a Thanksgiving gift, a collection of 7 songs performed on a very special night in Chicago over two years ago.

Pearl Jam were playing an intimate show at the House Of Blues as a benefit for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, and had just come out for their second encore. Ed dedicates a performance of Given To Fly to Robert Plant, and as the song draws to an end, Plant appears onstage with his band and they perform Going To California (the song which Given To Fly ripped off), and everyone has a good laugh. PJ return to the stage and proceed to perform 4 classics with Plant; Little Sister, an Elvis cover he has performed for years, Money (That's What I Want), another favourite for Plant to cover, and two Zeppelin classics, Fool In The Rain and Thank You. The show closes with Plant on guitar for an epic Rockin' In The Free World.

TwoFeetThick Notes: Ed totally botches the start of 'I Got Shit.' He tells everyone that has to go to school the next day that he'll write them excuse notes (so they can continue to play). A stunning closing with 'Indifference' with the house lights up. A solid show before a smallish crowd.

I'm not privvy to the time differences between the UK & US, so I apologise if this is a little late, but between 6am - 10 am EDT, WEEI Boston is doing a live on air auction for HDSA.

They are auctioning only one exclusive package. The prize is etting to hang out with Theo Epstein and Stone Gossard over dinner, a tour of Fenway Park, and a Sox game watched from the manager's box.

The show is broadcast live on the web. So, you don't have to be in Boston to bid. In order to listen to the show you need to:1. REGISTER2. Go to WEEI.com3. Click on Listen Live, top right corner of the page and log in

If you look slightly to your right and down the page you will see we've added links to all our favourite PJ sites. Now, chances are you've already visited most of them, but just incase you haven't had the pleasure....

Myspace - This is our myspace, with some pretty pictures of the band, some music, and generally another way to meet other fans online. Come be our friend, we're lovely, honest!

Official TenClub Site - What it says on the tin. The official home of all things PJ, including the Message Pit forums.

The Sky I Scrape - The best fansite on the web. Has comprensive info on songs, concerts etc. Currently undergoing a makeover. Also, home of the other big PJ web community, Red Mosquito message boards. If you're into trading, or want to escape the endless bickering about 10C's shortcomings on the Message Pit, head there now.

Two Feet Thick - In-depth fanzine that features everything from interviews with people like Danny Clinch to articles about the history of the 10C, going back to when it was the Vitalogy Health Club. Home of the legendary Concert Chronology.

More Than Ten - This site seeks to explore in detail every song in the Pearl Jam canon, from album tracks to b-sides to unreleased originals. An absolute must-read.

Pearl Jam Live - PJLive specialises in streaming bootlegs from 1990 through to present day, including all official boots. Great for if you're at work, or if you don't have the storage space for all these shows on your computer. It also works well as a way to guage the sound quality of earlier shows before downloading them at sites like Shut Your Mouth!

Given To Cast - Home to Mario's podcast dedicated to all things Pearl Jam. Includes news, rare tracks, competitions, interviews and more.

By the way, if anyone has listened to my interview on the podcast from the days of The Army Reserve, I'd like to take this opportunity to assure people that I don't sound like a nasally twelve year old girl in person ;D

Mario does great work, go check it out!

In The Present Tense - A new bootlegs site, along with ourselves, specialising in FLAC downloads, especially official bootlegs.

Peace Love Pearl Jam - This site has one purpose, to allow fans to leave a message of thanks for PJ for any reason you wish.

Teenage Made - Has a few bootlegs, some excellent photos from through the years, and other rare stuff you may well want to check out.

Friday, 16 November 2007

I watched the '95 Road Movie (ssshhh! Don't Tell TenClub) for the first time in years last night, and it re-affirmed my love for that tour, so much so that I was overwhelmed by the urge to share some cool highlights with y'all!

First up is a cover of Pete Townsend's Let My Love Open The Door, performed only 4 times in total, an amazing closer to a 10C only show in Seattle's Moore Theater. This is a song which, for some reason, has always put a big smile on my face everytime I hear it, which only leads me to wonder why this song was dropped from setlists thereafter...

Next, we move onto the Australian leg of the tour, to the show closer from the second of 3 nights in Melbourne. At this point, I should interject that every PJ fan should own a bootleg of this show*, it is possibly the greatest show they played in their earlier years, certainly in the top 10. Anyway, this was PJ's first ever Australian tour and the fans were going absolutely nuts for every song (imagine, you have been starved of PJ for the 3 years since the whole Grunge thing blew up), and after a loud singalong to Indifference, everyone is winding down, ready to head for the gates...

But then, the crowd are whipped back into a wild frenzy with the simple utterance of 5 words... "Mr. Dave Grohl on Drums" and with guest star in check, the band tear through a primal version of Uncle Neil's Rockin' In The Free World. This was a momentous occasion, given the reported ill feelings between Nirvana and PJ before Kurt Cobain's demise the previous year, and was a perfect way for the band to say thanks to the fans for their patience.

Finally, I offer you the penultimate song from a sublime San Jose show at the tail end of the 1995 tour, one of the re-scheduled shows from the summer tour. After the band were forced to cancel 5 shows in April and May due to problems with Ticketmaster, media pressure and Ed getting sick at the now infamous San Fran show, it looked like PJ were on the verge of implosion. But the band returned to play these shows in the Fall a much happier and relaxed looking band, and nothing encapsulates that moreso than this next tune, a cover of The Byrd's So You Wanna Be A Rock N' Roll Star, helped out by a then unknown Ben Harper, and Kim Warnock from The Fastbacks.

Its an enjoyable listen, very clearly just a bunch of friends hanging out, having fun, reminding us all of what being in a band should be about.

Thursday, 15 November 2007

Second bootleg from the American Tour in support of No Code. This was the only Canadian date on the tour. Excellent sound quality, and some fantastic versions of No Code songs, including my all time favourite version of In My Tree.

Enjoy, but be warned, i have no patience for people who complain about trivial things like sound quality, FLAC vs. mp3 etc. So, unless you want to spoil the fun for everyone, SHUT YOUR MOUTH!

TwoFeetThick Notes: 'Habit' lyrics are changed from "speaking as a child of the 90s" to "speaking as someone who taken many pucks in the face." Lots of covers songs hinted at: three Who songs as 'Daughter' outros, an intense version of 'Blood,' with a teaser of David Bowie's 'Fame;' and some of Neil Young's 'Cinnamon Girl' improved into 'I Got Shit.'

My personal favourite of PJ's drummers, responsible for the beats behind No Code & Yield, Jack Irons, has joined a new band!

He will bring his unique style to Spinnerette, the brainchild of former Distillers frontwoman Brody Dalle, which also features Alain Johannes (Eleven) on Guitar, and Tony Bevilacqua on Bass.

The band have been in the studio for 27 days and you can already hear a few tracks on the band's official site, http://www.spinnerettemusic.com/. Their myspace claims they sound like "being back in the womb", but I'll let you be the judge...

Tuesday, 13 November 2007

Our first featured artist in our New Music Series is Ottawa band Enemies and Allies. Consisting of David Pierce, Isaiah Hollander, Jeff Bertrand and Bradley Martel, the group was born in September, 2006, though their roots are steeped in St. John's, Newfoundland and Timmins, Ontario.

As part of our feature, Vocalist/Guitarist David Pierce was kind enough to take part in an interview to discuss the band, and his past, present and future plans for their music.

Thanks for doing this David. Lets start off by asking you to tell us a bit about yourself and your bandmates, and how you came together to form Enemies & Allies.Well, I moved to Ottawa in August of 2006 with my girlfriend to find work and also with the hope I could find some musicians to work with, and I got in touch with the guys via a web site http://www.punkottawa.com/.

They had posted looking for a guitar player for their band, as they were moving to Ottawa from Timmins, and one guitarist wasn't coming…

Timmins is in ON, I believe?Yep, home of Shania twain for trivia purposes..

Anyway, their post went beyond the usual "band needs guitarist, must do this and that, we like band a, b, c, etc.

How so?It was more spiritual maybe, for lack of a better term...they basically said they lived and breathed music and they wanted to create something amazing! I could tell straight off they were fervent listeners and they had a deeper appreciation for most of the heart and soul of rock music.

Which I can imagine must have been enticing?Yeah, I got really excited...and this was right before they moved here! But as soon as they did, they got in touch...

So did you have a trial of sorts, or was it a 'lets see how it goes' sorta thing, or did the band fit like a glove from the get-go?Well, here's where it gets interesting...

I went over to their place to jam, having learned a couple of their songs; Their band, Amalgamation, which incidentally still exists and is going strong, is a kinda prog jazz, Radiohead meets RHCP kinda thing...

So we played a couple of songs - their stuff is a lot more technically sound than mine...

Did you feel you had to step it up a gear, so to speak?I'm a slasher... I learned from Neil Young playing electric, Joe Strummer, Eddie Vedder... that kinda thing

Anyways, I suggested we just jam, which they were open to, and I tossed out Uniforms, which you probably heard on the Myspace...

Its actually my favourite of the 3 songs you guys have up there...I kinda bastardized something like Off He Goes by PJ and Powderfinger by NY, and Jeff, the guitarist, instantly came up with the lead and made it what it was... and it really blew me away!

It was really exciting to hear an idea I'd been strumming away by myself turn into this thing with a full band; It was still simple, but it had some really cool parts.

So what we can hear is pretty much the original version? It certainly has a raw vibe to itYeah, that's the song as it came out from the get go.

We had actually cobbled together a piece-by-piece recording of it that wasn't too too bad, but when we got a demo recorded in August, the guy who did it wanted a crack at Uniforms, so we re-did it and that's what you've heard.

You mentioned RHCP earlier. Are most of your songs, like theirs, born from jams? Or is it more like the PJ (or for that matter, most bands') process of someone brings in a piece (like Uniforms) and the band develops it into something more?Thus far, I've written everything at home and demoed it on a little 8-track with a drum machine or whatever and then given it to the guys to play with

So is it fair to say you are the primary songwriter in the group?To just go back to the original story for a sec, we basically determined early on that I wasn't the right fit for their band, but we still wanted to play together.

So now both bands exists - their other guitarist actually eventutally moved here and completed that lineup as well, but yeah, I've written everything so far for Enemies & Allies, and the guys kinda write collaboratively for their other band... For a while, I had to nag at them to stop referring to themselves as Dave's backing band!

They're all friends from public school, and I'm the "new" guy...

The Eddie Vedder of the group...Haha! I wish! But yeah, same idea I guess!

Sticking with PJ, I guess I should ask what your relationship with the band has been, you told me earlier you had become a fan when the whole Seattle scene blew up.Yeah, thats right. The rest of the band are actually all a few years younger than me and only had a passing knowledge of/respect for Pearl Jam.

So you did the righteous thing and converted them...Well, I always loved them and respected them, but being where i was from, I had never seen them live...

It was the 2000 bootlegs that sealed the deal for me... hearing 20,000 people who don't speak English singing along with a b-side - that sold me!

But Brad, our drummer is hardcore now, and the other guys are a lot more into it too, not that they weren't before, they were just unaware!

The other thing that sold me was the personal nature of every show; Subtle comments and mututal respect...

So do you look at PJ's as a blueprint that should be followed with E&A?I look at it as music being a way to convey something pure and honest, not to make yourself famous or score with girls, but to create and share, and do it purely based on all that is good with music.

Perhaps certain aspects of this blueprint, like you say, the personal relationship between band and music then?Exactly! I think I have a lot of opinions on the world and I'd love to see us all work together to make things better...and maybe music is how I could see myself connecting with other likeminded people.

Pearl Jam were the first band I saw do that...and I've come to be aware of Neil Young doing that and The Clash, The Who, even Bob Dylan in some ways

Earlier, you made a comment to me about Ottawa and its politics. Is that something that influences your lyrics, and like you say, can you see the music being a vehicle to carry your opinions to influence others?Well, I don't want to slag Ottawa, because it's a beautiful city, but sometimes it reminds me too much of how apathetic people can be, especially when they have all their comforts; Salary, benefits, house, car...

And we have a terrible Prime Minister in my opinion, someone who would rather people don't question things. It's the politics of fear - it lets conservatives come in and take over because we have to clamp down and protect ourselves from the "evil doers" and all that foolishness, but to me, the solution is not to ask less questions, rather to ask MORE questions!

Eventually, it all comes down to Education...

So do you feel you are in a position to educate others?Am I? Probably not... But I feel compelled to sing about topical subjects, because that stuff excites me...

You know, there are times I wonder if I'm just a whiner... but I love people and I just think we could join forces and make this world so much better.

Haha! I know the feeling, but i genuinely believe you should speak your mind rather than hold back and tow the company line, if it is something you don't agree with.Absolutely! And yet I'm compelled to point out that I'm not this big left wing communist either...I also believe there are people on both ends of the spectrum who have totally lost sight of the big picture.

Again i can empathise, I feel my political views are based more in common sense than extremist left or right wing policies.Yeah, that sums up how I feel in a nutshell. Too bad everyone doesn't see it as common sense!

But music, there's soemthing everyone can enjoy...

True. I think music can genuinely make a difference in peoples lives, whether it be by helping them air their anger at governments, or by taking the form of pretty pretty pop song that can put a smile back on someones face.Exactly. It just needs to be honest.

Our Favourite Song (another E&A song) is just a love song. I wrote that after my Gran passed away in January, kinda for my grandfather, who passed away when I was 3 or 4... She finally got to be back with him in some sense... And theres nothing political there.

Looking forward, where do you see you and your band in the long term?Well, we're just getting our toes into playing some live gigs, and we seem to have some real honest emotion and a bit of intensity, and I want to take that as far as I can take it, without compromising any of what is real in that.

In the immeadiate future, You have a show coming up at the start of December?Yep, we got a Radio show coming up in December... nothing big...we'll play some songs, talk a bit and it's a phone-in deal as well...

Any festive numbers lined up, PJ style?Haha! Like Don't Believe In Christmas or something along those lines? You know, I never considered that...might be a great idea!

I guess we'll just have to tune in to find out...Indeed... It'll be a learning experience for us all...

OK, so, to wrap up this Q&A, its been a pleasure to talk with you David, I've enjoyed listening to your stories under the guise of being an interviewer and I feel I've come away from this with a greater appreciation for your music, so thank you.Thank you... Hey, if it ever goes anywhere, you gave us our first interview, so i appreciate your time and effort!

Well, who knows what the future holds...

-------------

We will now offer you all a chance to sample Enemies & Allies for yourselves, with this 3-track EP. It features two of the songs discussed in the interview, Uniforms and Our Favourite Song, as well as Say What You Mean, and comes with exclusive artwork.

The aforementioned Radio Show will take place on 6th December. Further details are available at www.myspace.com/enemiesandalliesband. Here you can also see an exclusive video from the band's first ever show, and listen to the 3 tracks listed above. You can also find links to Isaiah, Jeff & Brad's other band, Amalgamation.

PLEASE leave feedback and let us know what you thought of this feature, the interview, and most importantly, the music.

Sunday, 11 November 2007

We know there are loads and loads of PJ fans out there. We also know that many of these fans love to make music themselves. So we figured what better way to get to know other fans than through the beautiful thing that connects us all, the music!

Every Monday, we will showcase the music of a fellow fan, and help them spread their music to a larger audience! Who knows, we may uncover the next big thing!

The LA Times is repoting that before Ed's solo show in Hollywood last week, he was in town to shoot a video(!!!) for the next single from the Into The Wild OST, Guaranteed, which also happens to be EV's fave song from his new disc.

In case you were wondering, this means that Ed will actually appear in the vid, not like the 'video' for Hard Sun which was basically a 3 min advert for the film.

TwoFeetThick Notes: The show is a technical nightmare, with microphones, guitars and lights all failing at multiple times throughout the show. Scratching the setlist after 'Who You Are,' Ed tries guiding the band through the more familiar waters of older songs.Even Stone's guitar fails during 'Mankind' with Scully trying desperately to change out his equipment while Stone continues strumming and singing his heart out, appearing to be oblivious to the problems.

Stone is having a blast, Jack has found his drumming groove with PJ now, Jeff is smiling and laughing during most of the show, as is Mike, although he never gets into any of his usually fantastic solos (although he tosses in a 'Sympathy for the Devil' riff just before 'In My Tree' and 'River of Deceit' before 'Daughter'), and Ed basically saves the show by keeping the techs and other band members functioning.His voice is clean (though the sound is poor) and he is playing guitar more often and more skillfully than the '95 shows. Ed tosses out a funny little "mou mou" soundcheck after 'Daughter' when changing microphones.

Monday, 5 November 2007

10C announced that their big surprise was another book, Pearl Jam Vs. Ames Bros: 13 Years Of Concert Posters 1995-2007. It should be cool, with bits and bobs from Artists and PJ themselves, including a foreword by Jeff Ament.

You can buy it now for $50 from the goods section at 10C, or, if you happen to be a millionaire/lottery winner/bank robber, you can pay a frankly ridiculous $200 for a 'limited edition' (read: green cover, with Barry Ament's signature).

Also, 10C obviously having read my previous post in which I exposed their hidden superpowers, announced that ths years Christmas single might actually arrive by Christmas!

Thats the word according to Sean Penn, when he introduced Saint Severson III at a small Hollywood gathering of celebs and industry types to celebrate the release of Into The Wild on Friday past.

Ed showed up to play a 6-song solo set, including the live debut of some ITW material, which is continuing to gather rave reviews in the press, and there is even talk of it being nominated for an oscar (or something like that, can't pretend I actually know).

He dedicated a song to Emile Hirsch (who plays Chris McCandless in the film), another to Stone and made some comment about how nice it was to play in front of people who aren't crazed lunatics who want to lick the sweat from his shirt or carry his children (or something like that), obviously not realising he has now alienated his bands core audience ;)

So, to summarise, Ed played a bunch of new songs, Sean Penn yet again professed to having a serious case of guy-love for EV, and everyone had fun!

Tuesday, 30 October 2007

I read a lot of negative stuff about the Ten Club, and how they fail us all the time, and after reading the latest posting from Kat & Sea over at the message pit, I'm not sure whether to agree or disagree with this.

You see, normally, if i don't get tickets to my nearest show, or my Christmas/Easter/Middle -of-Summer single doesn't arrive on time, i lambast the 10C, go into a strop like a small child, and then about 3 weeks later, i come back around to the fact that 10C are only human, and so its inevitable they will cock up from time to time.

But, the question is, are they actually human?

You see, K&S have already revealed they have Dr. Dolittle-like super powers that allow them to talk to a bird of some sort (I think its a hawk, which perches on Matt's shoulder at all times he is not onstage), which seems to tease us all with tidbits about upcoming PJ-related events: On this particular occasion we have all been instructed to update our memberships by the end of the week.

So whats to say the staff at 10C don't all have super powers? For all we know, many of them are able to fly! What we want to know is, what superpowers would you bestow upon the staff at 10C to enable them to serve us better?

Onto the more important issue of what PJ related surprise is headed our way soon, and common sense rules out a tour announcement, although i think i may have it figured out...

I reckon its far too early to be thinking about getting ready to ship off Holiday singles, so thats out of the question. Slightly more plausible is the release of some vault show/07 bootlegs in time for Christmas, but thats more wishful thinking than anything else.

So this allows me to come to my prediction: This will be in preperation for an announcement of:

1) Pearl Jam headlining next years Bonnaroo Festival, and an opportunity to buy earlybird tickets

OR2) An Eddie solo show happening sometime in the nxt month or two, possibly with Flea & Jack Irons, to make up for cancelling the Bridge School shows.

So there you have it. Probably completely wrong, Stone probably has some new hand-knitted socks going on sale in the goods section, but we'll find out soon enough. Remember folks, you heard it here first!